Let it ripen

You can learn a lot from your food.

Especially super foods.

I love avocados. And apparently I love them too much to be patient. Now, I can't say I always follow instructions or expiration dates (which I often call "suggestions") when it comes to food, but I recommend you believe the little stickers on avocados that say "ripe when soft." Trust me.

Yesterday I really wanted an avocado, but I only had one, and it was nowhere near soft. But I was stubborn and hungry, and you should not argue with a hungry girl—even if that arguing is with yourself. So I got a knife.

I think I would have been better off with a chainsaw.

Mindy Kaling has an avocado tree.

I've never had such a difficult time cutting an avocado in half. Ever. Then, once I finally cut through that thing, it was a struggle to slice it and get it out of the rind. It took a ridiculous amount of time (I seriously could have gone to the store and gotten a ripe one by the time I finished), and my hands were covered in a special green hue when I set down the knife. I even managed to cut my finger in the process.

I hate to say this about an avocado, but it didn't taste that great. It simply wasn't ready to be eaten. I had essentially ruined its destiny.

I think we all have tendencies to try to rush things. Let's face it: waiting is simply not fun and not on our lists of things to do. Go to the grocery store? Check. Get some laundry done? Cross it off the to-dos. Wait for things you really want to happen? Umm, no. But, even though we would probably never want to admit it, we often aren't truly ready for the things we think we are when we are. Our hearts aren't always ripe enough yet, and God operates on His own schedule.

If things had gone according to my plan, I would be married and have at least one kid by now, and I'm pretty sure I'd be living in a house on a golf course. Obviously that's not the case, and that's a good thing. It's OK that my Facebook feed is inundated with updates on all of my friends and their recent engagements, marriages, and babies, because I'm not ready for any of that yet. While I'm a great babysitter, I still can't keep a plant alive. And I can't even make break-and-bake cookies without ruining them completely.

God's still ripening my heart in some areas.

Just as we have to find patience in waiting for some fruits to be ready to eat, we often have to wait for our hearts to be ready for certain things in our lives. How much better would that avocado had been if I had just let the ripening process occur properly? How much better would our situations be if we just calmed down every once in a while and let God's ripening process occur properly?

It might be frustrating now, but you don't want unripe fruit.